Hymnal

The ocean has receded
Low tide means clams and creatures of the deep
left sucking air on wet sand
We gather these living things
We leave footprints
The ocean and the sky are the same
blue grey mist
Salt and fog intermingling
Gulls sail the air
Envious in our wake
Landing where we have already passed because they are afraid

I take a clam into my hands and
With my thumbs I pull it in half
but part of its shell is broken
and it cuts my hand
I pull the meat out of the rock creature
and beads of red drip from my hands
into this tan sand slurry below
and I am so hungry I just pinch
the meat out of the shell and drop
it into my teeth and chew
no cooking

Blood drips in a steady meted pace
Leaving little blackish spots
to mark where i have been
while I keep gathering

I come upon a creature I have never seen before
Body slick and strange
Seems to be rising, heaving here on the land
Red like my blood
And I see it’s eye
and i see it and it sees me

It is long, many legs
strange
Looks weak here
And I watch it
It is thinking
I can see in its eyes it is thinking while it is watching me

I kneel down to it, it moves like nothing else
and I touch it
Fear for a moment
A seagull calls in its sharp repetition
A bead of blood drips from me onto the creature

I gather it into my hands, slippery and slimy
It is not resisting
It is light
I walk to the water
I wade to my waist
Its strange eye is watching me the whole time
Many legs articulating and grasping
Touching my arms
I give it back to the water
And it lingers for a moment
seeming to find its strength
and our eyes meet again and then it is gone in a swift movement

I wade back to the beach to find more clams
with a deep cut in my hand
every drop measures time